ART AND ARTISTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 81

ART AND ARTISTS.

MR L. CAMPBELL-TAYLOR: HIS FIRST -SUCCESS.

(From P.T.O.j Success differs greatly according to the point of view. For the artist it depends upon the esteem of his brother painters ! whose -'opinion he values, while' the public may crown wifii its approval a picture of ! which artists do not approve.* In tibia year's Academy, by a. happy' combination i of circumstances, my picture, "The' Rehearsal," which I a.m naturally proud to have had bought by ibe trustees of theOhantrey fund, has been approved bath by them, most of the oritjes, and the public; and T may, tlherefore,'- " fairly describe it as thy first success. Hitherto I have bean known for the most part as a painter of small pictures, and -"Tie Reheai&ai'k has - beea . regarded _ as a new departure on my port. Ip mj view tthis is incorrect, except so far ns size; is ooaioarned; for the same kind of treatment axdd idea' runs flhrotrgb it" as .my earlier work. x So fiar as' a. man can judge his own work I should say alt possesses the same aorfl of qualities as are shown in last year's Academy picture 3«hicit is aboja.ifche aize I 'usuaQj! paint,- Jhoijgjh . ctooasion^p v I have worked on a sm&Dfcir'saaife. 'V - a —How Ideas Come.— One thing that has particularly gratified me is that the picture haafrjeo^weili accepted by musicians; "who have said " th&t' i& has caught the spirit of music. For th^s I have to thank- my «k.rly environment, Jor my Tather, Dr Jaaiea Taylor, w*B v for ntenyyears tha organist of New College, Oxford, as wall as to the Universjjyy so, that I was. brcughlt up in an atmosphere of music. I should like to be able to say \rbott induced me to select the subject, but trulbh compels me to admit that I -don't 1 know. My best ideaa come without* much (bought, and one morning, apropos of nofchmg, rtihougiht of the scheme of colour arod the musicians. The idea impressed me so mvcih that I at "once made a sketch of it in oils. It began as a quartette, ■with one girl and three men, who were separated by at rather pale sofa. When I got the large canvas I decided to make it. a quintette. — In. Favour of the Crinoline. — "Che piano is & very interesting instru memifc, for it was the one used by Ohopu during his reoitols in London in 1848. If , was made by and "b&ioxvgs to Messrs Broedwood, and they allowed me to gc to their warehouse to- meke the necessary atud»m from -tt. In' ■tibart: way I insured the accuracy of the instrument. One objection raised to the picture has been that girls never played the violin in the days oi crinolines. Even if the staiteanea* .were truejt would, in no way .trouble roe, for 1 did not set out to" paint a f«fct, but a picture. On- the other hand, I do- not -.believe the sfcateraaen* is true, for crinolines wera in fashion in the sixties, before which time liady HaMe had -appeared in London . and she must have worn tihe crinoline. I have o&en wondered why people dated my picture as somewhere about 1850. 1 neveidid 1 myself. I suppose, however, most' people know better ■> then painters. My reason for painting a picture with a. erino* line is that I like it. I think it gives amplitude -and dignity. Personally, 1 should like to see it restored to fashion foe home wear, for I admit that it would not do on the top o£ omnibuses or in crowded theatres. - . <- —Finding 1 a Model.— In getting my models 1 h*d »• good dea-l of trou-ble. I began by going ~to certain Italian agenaies, but I could find none to suit me, as I wanted a man whose face would' indicate that he had temperament. One day as I was passing along Piccadilly I saw just the man I wanted standing at a street corner. - The moment I saw him 1 said* to myself, "Here ia the very man 1 want. ' He was tall, slight, clean-slhaven, with long hair, amd was an .exceedingly picturesque 'person. I found y ou* that he was a very well-known character, and that he was inva-riaJbly to be seen at the spot at which he was standing. I therefore went up *o him and asked him whether he . would like a job. _He said he would be delighted, and I explained exactly what I wanted. He told me ha was an old actor who h*d ; lost hia- voice-, and he made -an appom&nertt to come to Hindhead to sit to me. The day came, but' not the man. I came to hwn^ and saw iiim ' agtain. He repeated his willingness to come, bat he never kept any appointment,, and wihen I expostulated he always made excuses. Fpr the viola player I had the proprietor of a restaurant wellknown to the Bohemian world of London. He gave me ail the sitting* I «»«-nfracl, and refused' to accept any payment. The 'cellist? was a repairing tailor of Oxford, who, while he was at Httndhee-d with me, acquired no rnoomsideiMible repiuba&on as *' wag among the' people- jekaf'ftetfpeipteil wo intis he visited after " his day's ; work waa done. - —The -Pleasures =of "DrMfemalfcing.— ■ It -ja*y interest people- to- know <iba.e,. aJ* though I have no aranbition to wrest the laurels of Worth or Paquin, I neventthelesß made the skirt of the dress worn by the girl in the foreground myself wifth die aid of a seeing machine. T had had the skirt made by a regulaa. dressmaker, but when it came home I found it vms absolutely no good for the purpose of painting. I therefore determined that I would 1 have a. try at the thing myself- I was tihe more readily induced to make the experiment by oonsideration of the fact that several artist friends of mine had done the same thine an a similar emergency and with signal success. I found the work a very interesting way of beguiling several long winter evenings. When the picture was finished, as tihere was no otfier way of gabfcing il to London, my friend. Prank Craig, and 1 I brought it up in a, mi'.k v*n wirfi hie beautifuJ picture "Joan of Arc." The pietur« ! interested me, not by reason of its story, for I am willing to confess that stary is thi last thing which appeals to me, or of which 1 ever try tc think. At one period of my career, like all young artists, the stewjt did" fascinate me to the exdusSjcm of every* else, hut now it is Ac- tone, uk colour and beauty of the subject, or my idea of beauty, at any rate, which in-vari* ably starts my work. For a sdmibu reams *he characters of the people in "The Rfr» hearsal" became a secondary consideration^ , (though I am free to confess tha* as thf work progressed I noticed an fcnprovemem in the way in which. I carried out my 000.- [ o&ptfon irbe» "mmpared -with previous work.